It's Day 32 on the Island, and we know 19 out of the 45 people living on the Island. This was the second Sayid episode.
Following Boone's death, Locke admits that Boone was helping him search a plane and everyone grows suspicious of Locke and the part he played in Boone's death. Despite this, he continues to keep The Hatch a secret because that's his style. As a result of his secrecy, Shannon and Sayid and Jack all become embroiled in a plot to kill him that ends with Locke getting his ear shot. Meanwhile Charlie helps Claire out by watching the baby, and discovering that Sawyer's voice is the key to stopping his crying. So let's break this down by character. Let's start with Locke.
Locke was the one who hit Sayid in the head! His reasoning made sense, but it was still a very shady thing to do. I have to admit that I lost a lot of my love for Locke over these last two episodes. I really enjoyed his second flashback episode, but he should have handled the Boone situation better. Could Boone have been saved if Jack knew the truth? I don't really think so, but people want to blame someone for Locke's death, and this is something to jump on. He makes an effort to apologize to everyone, but I'm rather annoyed by his attitude in this episode. He seems too pleased with himself; which I'm guessing is a result of whatever he discovered in The Hatch? What was it? They've got me curious now.
Shannon is dealing with Boone's death badly; go figure. With Jack accusing Locke of being a liar, she had to grab on the opportunity to blame someone. I'm surprised she had it in her to actually shoot at Locke, though obviously I'm glad that Sayid was able to stop her from killing him. I suspected that her grief would ruin her relationship with Sayid, and I think that unfortunately we might have seen the last of these two together. I think there will be maybe one more episode where the feelings between them are discussed, and then it will disappear into the abyss.
Jack and Kate continue to bond as she worries over him while he is only concerned with vengeance. There's genuine feelings between them, and I love seeing these two interact.
Being stuck on an island for a month with total strangers must be stressful, and so I think it is natural that fights break out. I think the stress plays a huge part in Jack's attack on Lock; but I still didn't care for it. He's the leader of the Tribe; he needs to act like it.
Claire appears to be an overprotective mother, but I'm glad that Charlie was able to convince her to get some rest. I really enjoyed everyone pitching in to help with the baby. Hurley was funny, but of course the start of this plot thread was Sawyer. I love that his voice is soothing to the baby, and seeing him read the car magazine to the little guy was hilarious. Sawyer is a good guy at heart, and it's moments like this that we are allowed to see it.
Apparently that woman who died in episode 5 was named Joanne.
Okay, now on to the main event.
This episode made the choice to involve Sayid with terrorism. Was this an edgy choice at the time? Probably. Was it interesting to take a look at the motives of a suicide bomber? Yes. I still wasn't a big fan of this plot. Maybe I'm just cynical and jaded, or maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but having the only Arab character be involved in terrorism, on either side of the issue, seems cliche to me. It also might be racist. Was there a good story here? Sure, but I didn't like the CIA being portrayed as both powerful enough to know exactly how to manipulate Sayid, but also petty enough to threaten Nadia. Also, this flashback seemed to only sort of touch on the theme of the episode. I don't really like Sayid's flashbacks, I've decided. I prefer the Sayid in the here and now.
The last scene with Sayid telling Locke there will be no more lies was really cool. He is going to see the Hatch. I wonder what's in it? Anyways, the way the shadows covered Sayid's face was cool. I haven't mentioned cinematography a lot in this series; it's mostly excellent, but this scene in particular was wonderful.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10 Turnipheads.
I'm a little surprised a how low this score is since I did enjoy watching this episode. As I was writing this though, I just kept thinking of things about it that bugged me. This was another episode where I wished that there didn't have to be flashbacks in every show, and I just felt like even though the terrorist part of the episode was interesting to watch; it was dumb to have Sayid be involved in this. This episode would probably be an 8 if you don't take the time to really think about all the elements, but since I'm writing this article, I don't get the luxury of not being able to think about the episode. I actually liked all the parts without Sayid much more than the parts with him, and that's a problem for a Sayidcentric episode.
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